I'll try again... surely someone knows the answer

[beenee]

I've just got myself a new Sony Vaio and would like some advice on how to keep it in the best running condition. With my old laptop I used to shut it down every night.. is this ok to do or should I keep it on Standby/Hibernate, only shutting it down once every few days?

[dhjb97]

Might be best to see if theres any advice on the sony website about this? Having said that, it does kinda depend on the operating system you run ;) If its windows a proper shutdown every few days will prob do it the world of good, but I tend to keep my laptop running for ages (well 1-2 wks) or until it crashes. If your running a Unix based o/s you could keep it running indefinitely in theory, as 'nix tends to be rather more stable than windows. Hope this helps

[goowe]

I've got a VAIO, I also sell them for a living. Because of this I know that Sony's are amongst the most robust PCs available for a decent price when it comes to domestic use, I do however recomment a restart at least once every two days or if you don't use it much shut down at the end of the day. Get yourself Ad-aware Norton anti-virus and whatever you do DO NOT INSTALL KAZAA OR KAZAA LITE. Unless you've got money to burn and can afford another computer. (P.S. WinMX is good p2p software)

[goowe]

Sorry about the grammar in that last post.

[charlieroker]

I work in IT and I have guys who don't shut down until they have a problem. It will not do you any harm using the hibernate function. Shut down at least once a week, but don't be too concerned about it. If your using XP Home then do it more often. As regards looking after your computer try the following free tools that are just fantastic Anti Spyware "SPYBOT search and destroy" http://www.safer-networking.org/ Free Anti-Virus for personal use: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php Cheers CR

[bargepole]

Goowe what's the problem with Kazaa?

[beenee]

Many many thanks for all your answers!

goowe: really relieved I made the right choice of laptop, and I was actually thinking of downloading a p2p for music and now will avoid kazaa, thanks!

I'm going to try doing without spyware for now since I don't want to download anything that isnt authorised. I used Ad-aware on my previous laptop and it wasn't a 100% effective. May give it another try if I see any rogue spyware though.

Thank you all again!